Powering Corgi's Birney

I don't have an answer for you, but I would also like to know about powering a Gorgi streetcar.  I have an O scale Philadelphia Transportation Co. PCC streetcar that I would like to consider powering.  

So if anyone has an answer for Bobby, maybe I can benefit from your knowledge.

Bowser used to make power chassis for those, don't know that they still have them, they're listed as discontinued.

You could try Q-car and see if they will proved a power truck with larger flanged wheels. You'll still need a rectifier, etc.

You might search for one of the small trackmobiles, whatever, and see if the wheelbase works. You'll still need sideframes, of course.

There's this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel...2:g:3uoAAOSwZd1VXMEW 
on ebay:

Or--you could buy a Lionel Birney and throw away the body

If you want TMCC operations, there are some miniature ERR electronics that could be made to fit.

I used a K-line handcar chassis.  Worked OK...

Q Car produces very fine power units. They have a kit for the Corgie Birney. All their power units are O Scale 12 volt DC. They come in underfloor 2 rail trucks with insulated wheels or non insulated for overhead operation or outside 3rd rail. The cars can have interiors.

Bowzer made tinplate 3 rail power trucks for Corgie PCC's and Birneys. If they are not available any more. Go sto the East Penn Trolley meet in Allentown,   Penn. May of this year and the New York City Mass Transit convention in  Parsippany, New Jersey November. If you don't find them at these events you may get some  leads from some of the vendors. 

You can also use Lionel drives from their trolley and switchers if they fit. Modifications will have to be made and the bumpers for forward and reverse will have to be removed on the  Lionel trolley cars.

The Corgie cars are super nice.

Q Car is pretty proud of their power trucks, pretty pricey stuff!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Q Car is pretty proud of their power trucks, pretty pricey stuff!

MT010LP79E CS251 79E Brill Power Truck w/o Trailer @ $121.50 (white metal)

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Q Car is pretty proud of their power trucks, pretty pricey stuff!

And with good reason, too.  They are all custom built to order and there is generally a 2 to 4 month wait for them.

MWB,

I like this,

"A Pessimist sees a dark tunnel.

An Optimist sees light at the end of the tunnel.

A Realist sees a freight train.

The Train engineer sees 3 idiots standing on the rails."

mwb posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Q Car is pretty proud of their power trucks, pretty pricey stuff!

And with good reason, too.  They are all custom built to order and there is generally a 2 to 4 month wait for them.

Not sure that qualifies as a "good reason", I'm just glad I don't need power for a Corgi.

Mitchell, you gave me an idea. Thanks! I have a Lionel bumper trolley with a sliding pickup shoe that makes it run poorly. I also have an MTH MOW hand car. Maybe by cannibalizing the two, I can cobble together some power for my Corgi trolleys.

I checked the distance between the axles of an MTH Rail King MOW hand car and at 6.5 cm, it is too large to fit a Corgi Birney.

However, my Lionel bumper trolley has just about the same axle spacing as the Corgi Birney. The Lionel bumper trolley will be cannibalized for its power unit, and its body laid to rest in the scrap yard. Thanks Nate for planting the seed.

More to follow on this conversion.

GHB International used to make kits for the Birney and PCC streetcars produced by Corgi. They're currently listed as out-of-stock on their website though. No word on whether there will be future production runs.

---PCJ

Can you use a "china drive" power truck from a Lionel FT?

RoyBoy posted:

Can you use a "china drive" power truck from a Lionel FT?

Don't see why not, as long as you don't mind the long wheelbase and greatly oversized wheels... 

Mitch

The K-Line speeder chassis is close to the same wheel base as the Corgi Birney. But the wheels are too large in diameter.  So If you do not mind the jacked up look it might work for you. I am converting one of these drive units to scale wheels right now.

Nortonville Phil posted:

The K-Line speeder chassis is close to the same wheel base as the Corgi Birney. But the wheels are too large in diameter.  So If you do not mind the jacked up look it might work for you. I am converting one of these drive units to scale wheels right now.

What kind of wheels are you using?  I'd love to bring the Birney back down to earth.  

Mitch,

What I did was use Atlas 33inch dia. wheels from their freight car trucks.  On many of these mechanisms from three rail equipment they have 3/32" diameter axles. Most O scale axles on other scale equipment are at least 1/8 " diameter. So. The fact that the Atlas axles are 3/32" dia. makes them candidates for conversion of three rail mechs to two rail. The Atlas Industrial Rail trolley has this size axle also. Now Real Birney Brill 79E trucks used 24 inch diameter wheels I believe. So the 33 Inch are too big. If you want the correct diameter wheels for your Birney you will have to order them from Q car or NWSL. You could then adapt them to your axles. Also you would have to mill away the bottom of the motor block to make clearance for the smaller wheels.   What I did on my truck was to make new wheel insulating bushings from Garolite to adapt the Atlas wheels to the original geared axle on the K line speeder. This was because the K line axles were just a few thou smaller than the Atlas axles. For the unpowered axle I used an Atlas axle and wheels.  I know birney cars had the small diameter wheels in their trucks. But Brill did plan to offer the 79E truck with larger wheels such as 33" diameter for other cars. I plan to use the converted truck under a small box motor.

Another option I have seen is the use of the Mantua Tyco HO diesel truck Cut in half and lengthened out to fit the Birney wheel base. Or course new O scale wheel sets will have to be used. If I remember correctly the axle diameter on the Mantua truck is 1/8" diameter.

I can probably adapt 33" Lionel wheels, then.  I also have a spare S-2 pilot truck with 27" wheels, although that might be a bit too low for the 3rd rail pickups...

Mitch

Mitch,

I just had the idea that maybe American Flyer S gauge freight car wheels or Marx wheels could be adapted for a Birney or other O gauge streetcars because of their smaller diameter.

Phil:

Excellent idea! When did AF go to plastic wheels, tho?  Those wouldn't be usable for obvious reason...

Mitch